Dark Falz Loser
Dark Falz Luther is the new "endgame" boss that's been added. This article will mainly cover the combat, but you can check the Emergency Missions page for grouping guidelines. General Info The EM lasts for one hour and consists of two parts: Black Winged Apostles and Dark Falz Loser. The EM starts with only the Apostles mission available and will switch over to Dark Falz Loser after 30 minutes. You need to complete the Apostle mission at least once on any difficulty during the first 30 minutes to unlock the Dark Falz Loser mission, clearing Apostle at any difficulty will unlock Dark Falz Loser for all difficulties. Apostles The Apostles has the following data: Its hitboxes consists of the following- *Head - headshot weakpoint for ranged attacks. *6 Arms - each can be broken. *Core Faceplate - reveals weak point once broken. *Tail - can be broken, shortens range of tail attacks. *Main Body *Shoulder Heads - both of can be broken, stops them from shooting. All of them are weak towards Light and Wind element hits. The Core Faceplate has lower resistances and will take more damage than other parts, attacks that cause Confusion(light) status effect directed towards it may temporarily stun the boss. AI and attacks depends on which faceplate that's rolled during the start of the fight. *3 eyes - Lightning, does the lightning pillars that rotates outwards as well as air spin -> lightning dunk. *4 eyes - Fire, does the spawn multiple fireballs from above as well as air hop -> fire pillars at player locations. *6 eyes - Ice, does the two beam 360 rotation as well as air hop -> centered ice dunk All of the Apostles attacks deal either Strike damage (contact hits) or Tech damage (spells). Tech attacks performed will of course be of the same element and relevant status effects (shock/burn/freeze). The Apostle will teleport away after the bossHP notification. It will then reappear on the center of the map and spawn a tower at each of the four corners on the map. Breaking all 4 towers will cause the Apostle to fall down and remain stunned for a duration. Failing to do so results in insta-KO AoE damage across the map. The boss drops mostly junk, Rare versions can drop Tech Discs normally found in red boxes (sazan, shifta, deband). It's unconfirmed if breaking parts results results in additional Loser 11* weapon trade stones. Strategy WB should be applied differently depending on MP composition: An MP with few or none melees should WB the Tail since it's easy to shoot and lock onto. If melees are present, then it should either be the Core Faceplate if there's lots of Hu or Fi mains or Main Body if there's lots of Katana Bravers. You can lock onto the main body by standing 8 o'clock or 5 o'clock behind the apostle. Keep an eye on your WB timer, as it's important that you have a new reload of WBs when the Apostle HP drops below 50%. Melees should be straight up attacking the Main Body, preferably standing right below the Apostle. Forces should be casting ilgrants towards its Abdomen Faceplate to cause stun. Throwing Shifta/Resta/Zanverse on the damage dealers also helps. Pay attention to the mini-map once the Apostles reaches 50% HP: Rangers should move towards the corners and WB/target the towers which has the fewest players to ensure that all 4 towers are destroyed. They should also save at least 2 WB shots the stun phase after all towers are destroyed, these are needed if the someone WBs the body or the hands by mistake during the stun phase. The core weakpoint has an odd hitbox, it's easiest to WB it after jumping when standing on the head or either of the shoulders. Using WB while too close to the core will usually apply the WB onto the main body instead. Once you see only 1-2 towers left on the mini-map (that you aren't attacking) you should start moving towards the center of the map, 8 o'clock or 5 o'clock behind where the apostle is facing. By standing there you'll be right next to the shoulders after Apostle falls down and can quickly jump up. WB and attack the exposed core as soon as you get on the top. Forces should be ready to cast Shifta/Zanverse to assist. Dark Falz Loser Dark Falz Loser has 4 different conditions that may affect its drops: #Ship Apostle Defeat % - any % above 100 becomes added as rare drop boost, ie 120% = +20% rare drop boost. Failing to get 100% greatly reduces drop rates and completely removes 12* items from the drop table. #Personal Apostle Defeat Number - drop chances increase the more times you clear the Apostle mission. Chances are maximized after 4 victories; difficulty and Rank do not matter. #Mission Clear Rank - drops will be less if you get killed and return to the campship for an incapacitation revival or if you're dead when the boss dies. #Parts Broken - increases drop chances for 9-10* items, 10* units and the All Class 11* weapon trade stones (Syncesta stones). Its lower body hitboxes consist of the following: *Main Body - has high damage resistance and should be ignored. *Forearms - can be broken; Loser will stop to regenerate them once broken. Damage to these while they are unbroken will not contribute to hurting the boss's total HP. It will always require the same amount of damage to break them again regardless of how many times they are broken. If the clock is opened with Mirage while the Forearms are repairing, the Forearms' repairs will be interrupted and restarted from the beginning once the clock has closed again. *Biceps - will glow when loser is regenerating Forearms and can be broken during that time (they can not be broken any other time). Causes Loser to sink and expose neck core when broken. Hurting these will hurt the boss's total HP regardless of whether they are glowing. *Clock - might stun Loser and open when hit by Mirage effect. Appears to remain open due to Mirage status for the same duration regardless of difficulty level (e.g. Normal, Super Hard); this duration is approximately 17 seconds. Can be broken during Mirage stun to permanently expose a weakspot. Damage to the clock before it is broken, while it is open, still counts toward reducing the boss's total hit points. The Clock receives only 1/5th of the damage inflicted upon it after all other damage calculation is applied. Because this unique reduction is applied last, even Banishing Arrow's damage will be reduced. This is the only one of Loser's parts with this capability except perhaps Loser's cape, which, aside from the gems on it, is highly resistant to damage at all times. All parts are weak to Light and Wind based damage. The core can be stunned when hit by mirage effect. Loser goes through multiple modes and 4 phases. It starts by staying in normal time mode. At 4/5 (80%) HP it'll enter phase 2 and start changing to speedup mode (red) and slowdown mode (blue). At 3/8 (62.5%) HP it'll enter phase 3 and add element effects to its attacks. At 1/2 (50%) HP Loser will also lower its body for a period at some point after going below 1/2 (50%) HP. This grants the opportunity to break the gems on its body. Loser also changes its random vertical or horizontal sword swing into an two swing attack, starting with the vertical swing and ending with the horizontal swing. Its upper body hitboxes consist of the following: *Head - Headshot weak point for ranged attacks. *Gems - can be broken, the beak gem causes loser to sink and expose neck core. Breaking the other 4 gems removes elemental effects from Loser's attacks. *Neck Core - Normally protected by a barrier, temporarily becomes weak spot when bicep or beak gem is broken. Loser's Attacks Loser always starts the fight with a vertical sword swing. Loser always follows its first attack with lock-on spikes; a player will know they are targeted by them when a red bullseye is attached to their character. Loser always follows its first spike attack with a spew of homing orbs (3 on all difficulties except Super Hard, which has 4; higher difficulty gives more speed to the orbs). Once Loser has cycled through its first swing, spikes and orbs, slight randomization of its attack pattern begins. Loser has a very low chance of following the orbs with another set of spikes. Loser always follows spikes with orbs. Loser has a very high chance of following the orbs with a sword swing, which will randomly be vertical or horizontal (or based on the location of the targeted player). Loser has a moderate chance of following a sword swing with another. If Loser does not swing its sword twice, or once it has, Loser will restart the attack cycle with lock-on spikes again. The spikes can be avoided by simply running. The orbs are best avoided by circling them as tightly as possible without accidentally touching them, as this will keep them on screen until they dissipate so they will be less likely to surprise the player from behind due to their homing function. The vertical swing can be dodged effectively with invincibility frames (even with no skill points invested in them) or simply moving to the side. The horizontal swing is most easily avoided by jumping with the intent of being at maximum height as the sword passes under. Photon Arts with long animations are best saved for after any time Loser swings its sword. If Loser swings its sword twice, long Photon Arts like Final Nemesis should be usable after each swing at little to no risk. After Loser's first teleport, at 4/5 (80%) HP, Loser begins to use its speed up (red aura for the arena) mode. This new mode adds these attacks: * A quick vertical swing from the centre of the arena toward a target. * A teleport attack in which Loser stabs a concentrated area rapidly, ending with a larger thrust. * A horizontal swing across the arena, from the outside or the centre. * A sword slam with both swords which crosses the entire arena through the centre. * Two simultaneous sweeping sword swings which launch a damaging wave which crosses the entire arena instantly on either side of the centre. Each attack occurs after Loser teleports to a random location. All attacks during "speed up mode" (and associated elemental effects) are telegraphed via illumination of the arena's floor in the areas which are hazardous; the attacks are easily avoided by simply moving out of these regions. There is a moderate delay afforded for players to counter attack Loser after the sword slam and sword sweep attacks, as well as the end of the multiple thrust attack. The vertical swing, however, leaves little time to counter attack, and attempting a long Photon Art after it, especially if it is followed by another vertical swing or multiple thrust attack, can prove fatal. The horizontal swing is similarly fast and dangerous to counter with longer Photon Arts. Loser also has its signature time freeze attack which is used at 3/8 (62.5%) and 5/8 (37.5%) HP. This move sends out 4 swords which can freeze players (in time, not in ice); each deals around 5000 damage to the target area unless the sword pointing at that region is destroyed. The damage can be survived with appropriate choices from the Hunter skill tree such as Automate Halfline, even without invincibility abilities such as Iron Willneeded. The time freeze happens when the white bubble emitted by each sword bursts; it can be avoided by using an immunity frame move (step, roll, mirage escape) at the right time. The effect can also be broken out of by mashing the movement keys after you get frozen. Each sword only covers 1/4th of the arena so only breaking one sword is needed to avoid the damage. After Loser's second teleport, Loser continues to use its previous attacks and time speeds (normal and fast), but adds a third speed: slow, which gives a blue aura to the arena. While time is slowed, Loser uses variants of its speed up mode attacks: * The quick vertical swing is gone. 2 spews of homing orbs that travel much more slowly and last much longer are possible instead. * The multiple thrust attack is replaced with a slow, single thrust that generates a large shockwave. * The horizontal swing is replaced with Loser moving to the centre of the arena and slowly swirling both swords at once, with the energy from the swords shielding Loser from most attacks. * The sword slam is now a delicate placement of the swords onto the arena, followed by a violent series of shockwaves progressing from Loser toward the other side of the arena. * Loser's sword sweep no longer stretches a wave of energy across the arena, but instead generates 2 (4 in Super Hard) homing energy discs which take up a large amount of space, move very slowly and track players. In addition, the now-breakable elemental gems add effects to each of Loser's attacks until they are broken: * The quick vertical swing now generates lightning bolts (similar to Ragne's) during the "red" and "yellow" (normal) time speeds. * The horizontal swing generates small wind "landmines" during the slow spin while time is slow (blue). It generates large tornadoes, evenly distributed in a circle around the arena, when time is fast (red) if Loser swings from the centre of the arena; otherwise, lightning bolts are generated. * The fast mode (red) sword sweep now leaves a lingering blanket of fire over the hazardous region. In the slow mode (blue), the discs now leave a trail of fire. Evading the orbs can still be done by circling them until you are sure they are done following you. The shockwave thrust can be avoided by simply moving away, although the range is large, so it can be difficult or impossible to avoid if the player is between the centre and the edge of the arena - the player must not lure Loser into attacking until they have adequate room to evade. The slow sword spin can be avoided by simply running in a circle, jumping over any "wind mines" in the way if they are too close to weave through. Certain dodging techniques with long enough immunity durations can pass through a spinning sword as a contingency should they catch up to the player; most notably Mirage Escape is capable of this. The shockwaves from the "gentle" sword slam do not hit the area nearest Loser. The serial occurrence of the waves leaves a small window of opportunity to move from the next hazardous region to the previous unscathed, particularly if assisted by a dodging manoeuvre. The homing discs can be levitated over, though Loser is likely to follow with an attack that will punish players who do not first lure the discs away from Loser and then return to Loser's front in preparation for a possible shockwave series or homing orb attack. The locations where Loser's lightning strikes will hit are not always obviously indicated in advance, making the attack deceptively effective - players will be safer taking an extra moment after the first few strikes to continue moving in any unobstructed direction. The rest of Loser's new elemental attacks will have their presence indicated in advance by floor illumination (during the fast "red" mode) or an apparent burning carpet covering a portion of the arena. For classes using slower Photon Arts, Loser's greatest opening occurs during the serial shockwave attack, as the attack can be avoided entirely by simply fighting Loser up close. This is not the case if Loser's previous attack was a homing attack, and Loser's homing projectiles must be nearly depleted before it is safe to use slower Photon Arts again. The discs are especially responsible for most incapacitations that occur during an Emergency Quest. Loser has another long opening after performing its large shockwave thrust. Should a player anticipate the end of Loser's slow sword spin and attack in advance, another opportunity for longer Photon Arts is available then. Loser gains new attacks for its normal mode (yellow) at 1/2 (50%) HP remaining: * Loser's randomly vertical or horizontal sword swing is now always a vertical and horizontal swing in succession, accompanied with lightning strikes if the associated gem is unbroken. Loser may sink into the arena, hiding the Clock and lowering the gems for melee combatants to reach, to perform other attacks: * A vacuum attack which attempts to pull players in for a hit from an explosion. * A swirl of pillars similar to Hunar's in which two circles of pillars rotating in opposite directions spread out. They are ice elemental and can freeze players if the associated gem is unbroken; otherwise the attack will be 3 pillars spreading in straight lines rather harmlessly. * A release of 5 bouncing fireballs that deal approximately half the damage of the similar homing orbs, though these fireballs are much larger and, due to their random ricocheting, are often more difficult to avoid. * Loser may place its swords upward through the arena and spread them outward in a horizontal line in front of itself. Loser's vacuum is most easily avoided by being out of its suction range in advance, building momentum and outrunning it, then finally by properly timing an evasive manoeuvre at the time of the explosion. The pillar swirl can be ran through its openings which are wider as the pillars spread out further. Alternatively or in addition, a player can use an immunity ability such as Mirage Escape to pass through the pillars. The bouncing fireballs can be actively avoided by positioning near the edge of the arena so that all fireballs are always in view, though it is possibly more efficient to ignore them and heal as necessary. Loser's sword spreading attack only hits the area directly in front of Loser can ranged attacks can be prepared in advance by attacking from outside Loser's short range. Users of slow Photon arts will have the most time to attack Loser during Loser's sword spreading attack. They may also find time to attack during the ice pillars or bouncing fireballs, especially if they are positioned far away and/or the Ice gem has been destroyed. Loser can be attacked freely during his vacuum attack as well, at the cost of manageable damage to the player or none at all if the player is out of the range of the suction in advance. There is a possible window for longer Photon Arts after the lighting strikes from Loser's double sword swing attack have cleared as well. Strategy Simply inflicting Mirage on the Clock and keeping Weak Bullet on it while attacking it works fine if you're going for quick Loser kill. You can even break the Forearms before hand to combine the time Loser spends repairing its Forearms and Mirage stun time to kill Loser in one repair cycle; this usually finishes the fight in 2 minutes in Super Hard difficulty. Breaking the Forearms while the Clock is affected by Mirage will not take effect until the Clock is repaired. The Clock can be Mirage stunned a total of 5 times; the chance of it occurring decreases each time, so Rangers should make sure to have Weak Bullet ready when the core gets stunned. They should also be prepared to centre themselves in front the Clock before or during the moment the Clock has been visibly afflicted with the status, as Loser brings its hands together in front of the Clock for the repair animation and may inadvertently shield the Clock from a Weak Bullet attempt (which will redirect it onto one of the Forearms, the hitbox of each of which is extended to the connected hand). Mirage Shot is especially difficult to procure the stun effect with after 2 successful inflictions of the status (on any given difficulty). It is noticeably easier to inflict Mirage in lower difficulties. The 4 gems gain color and can be broken during phase 2. Breaking them removes additional elemental effects from Loser's attacks; breaking the Fire gem removes the burning floor from dual handed fast sweep, breaking the Wind gem removes the tornadoes after the dual handed spin, breaking the Bolt gem removes the lightning bolts after the dual handed overhead swing, etc. Given the elemental gems as being numbered, 1 through 4, from our left to our right (while facing Loser with Loser facing us; that is, starting with Loser's right and numbering toward its left), the gems on Loser's cloak grant him the powers of these elements, respectively: 1 - Wind 2 - Ice 3 - Fire 4 - Bolt Interestingly, the beak gem can be broken as early as desired. The point at which a gem had been, after a gem is broken and removed from that location, has the same susceptibility to damage as it does when the gem has yet to be broken. Loser's Forearms have approximately 162.5k (162500) hit points in Hard mode, 549k (549000) in Very Hard and over 997k (997000) in Super Hard. Loser's Clock has approximately 80k (80000) hit points in Normal mode and 325k (325000) hit points in Hard mode. Loser has as low as 620k-850k (620000-850000) hit points in Normal mode, closer to 4.9 million (4875000) in Hard mode, approximately 14.0 million in Very Hard (14000000) and as much as 18.1 million (18100000) in Super Hard. Notably, Loser's hit points scale slower than the hit points of its Forearms. Breakable parts such as the clock, which share Loser's total HP, may scale as Loser's total HP does rather than as the Forearms do (unconfirmed either way). Also of note is that the HP scaling from Very Hard to Super Hard is far less than the scaling from Hard to Very Hard (and seemingly also from Normal to Hard), suggesting that the hit point scaling was adjusted to accommodate possible balance/difficulty issues that may have arisen otherwise. Known possible hit point ranges for Loser and its parts in various difficulty levels are as follows: Normal Mode Forearms - <60000 Biceps - Unknown Clock - <85000 Gems - Unknown 1st teleport - 67659 to (180000? (unverified), video deleted) 272047 2nd teleport - Unknown Time stop swords - Unknown HP notification #1 - Unknown 3rd teleport - Unknown HP notification #2 - Unknown Total HP - Unknown Hard Mode Forearms - 162369 to 162631 Biceps - Unknown Clock - 306698 to 339370 Gems - Unknown 1st teleport - 817007 to 1079655 2nd teleport - Unknown Time stop swords - Unknown HP notification #1 - Unknown 3rd teleport - Unknown HP notification #2 - Unknown Total HP - Unknown Very Hard Forearms - 547793 to 550276 Biceps - Unknown Clock - Unknown Gems - Unknown 1st teleport - 2678617 to 2878375 2nd teleport - Unknown Time stop swords - Unknown HP notification #1 - Unknown 3rd teleport - Unknown HP notification #2 - Unknown Total HP - Unknown Super Hard Forearms - 997857 to 1112644 Biceps - Unknown Clock - 1813777 to 2018028 Gems - Unknown 1st teleport - 3691886 to 3782472 2nd teleport - 6633774 to 6980055 Time stop swords - Unknown HP notification #1 - Unknown 3rd teleport - Unknown HP notification #2 - Unknown Total HP - Unknown Grand Prix Forearms - Unknown Biceps - Unknown Clock - 71226 to 279830 Gems - 23730 to 28219 1st teleport - 295603 to 376038 2nd teleport - 718862 to 756088 Time stop swords - 3964 to 6380 HP notification #1 - 1002156 to 1036569 3rd teleport - 1171309 to 1259766 HP notification #2 - 1749686 to 1784445 Total HP - 1936568 to 1987854